We spoke briefly about the absence of sarcasm in ASL, and noted that ASL has its own idiomatic expressions that are different from those of spoken English. For example, one would not literally translate “It’s raining cats and dogs” in ASL, instead they would just make exaggerated signs and faces for “rain”.

We also learned some about directionality and the differences/similarities between the signs for:

me—my—-myself

you–your–yourself

we—ours—us

the two of us

you and I “sharing”, having something in common; or two objects that have something in common or the same.

I tell you

You tell me

The main focus during the meeting today was creating sentences with the right word order as well as some vocabulary to make said sentences. To denote the differences between the two, spoken English will be on the left, and the ASL equivalent will be to the right of the “–>”.

Why weren’t you here last week? –> Last week you here not why? or Last week you gone why?

I can’t find the book. –> Book find can’t.

If you wanted to add possession, such as “my book”, then the sentence becomes –> Book mine find can’t.